Morning all,
I recently bagged myself a UV-5R dual band (online recommendations stated that there was no real reason to go for the tri band unless using the HAM frequencies to transmit…licence required).
I have been playing about with it and trying to get it programmed in for my local area (Northumberland). Seems that my system picks up on the odd signal but mainly hearing background noise. I do live in a kind of small valley which unfortunately is flanked by on either side by larger hills. It seems that there are some form of comms towers on these hills but no luck. My nearest repeater station is Hexham according to repeater book.
Does anyone have any experience in using and programming the UV-5R?
Baofeng Uv-5R Dual band with a 2m/70cm foldable antenna
Baofeng Uv-5R Dual band with a 2m/70cm foldable antenna
AREA 8 we shall defend our island, what ever the cost may be,we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender.
Re: Baofeng Uv-5R Dual band with a 2m/70cm foldable antenna
To program it you will need a programming cable (who'd have thunk it) and a program called Chirp : https://chirpmyradio.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home
Re: Baofeng Uv-5R Dual band with a 2m/70cm foldable antenna
I had to reprogram a pair of Baofeng handhelds (not your model) to work with legal UK PMR 446 frequencies, using Chirp. This took patience even for the relatively few channels. What I'm saying is the programming may take time, and go carefully. What put me off modern ham radio is having to spend ages programming radios with "code plugs". A depressing prospect having to feed in endless numbers and codes, and hoping no mistakes have been made. Ham radio in the 1990's was much more fun.korolev wrote: ↑Wed Jun 04, 2025 9:26 am To program it you will need a programming cable (who'd have thunk it) and a program called Chirp : https://chirpmyradio.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home
Re: Baofeng Uv-5R Dual band with a 2m/70cm foldable antenna
Yeah, the UV-5R is pretty popular for a reason — solid little radio for the price. I’ve messed around with programming mine using CHIRP software; it makes it way easier than doing it by hand. If you’re in a valley with hills around, that can definitely block signals a lot. Maybe try setting up some simplex channels too, just in case repeaters aren’t working well. Also, double-check the frequencies for your local repeaters in Hexham — sometimes they change or have specific tones you need to access them.